Pillar of Night

(Cenotaph Road 6)
by
Robert E. Vardeman

Ace, November 1984, 200 pp.
ISBN: 0-441-66397-4

Genre: Fantasy
Reviewed: 5/12/2002

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

"See, Martak? All of me wants to see you die," said Claybore.

"And you will--you will die as only an immortal can. You will live forever and be in complete pain for all eternity. Nothing will save you. You will cry in the dark for surcease and never find it. You will die, not in body but in mind. Die, Martak, die!"

Lan couldn't stop the surging attack, but he deflected it enough to keep from succumbing. Knowing his strength was nowhere near adequate to destroy Claybore as he'd thought, cunning took over. Lan Martak turned aside the assault and redirected it to the hopping, kicking leg.

"No!" came the shriek as Claybore realized what was happening.

His leg vanished in a sizzling cloud of greasy black smoke, lost forever.

"Your skin is gone. I have your tongue. Now your left leg is destroyed. Who is losing, Claybore?"

Synopsis

Lan Martak, Krek, Inyx and Ducasien split up and head to different worlds. Krek finds a world with smaller spiders in need of a Webmaster and settles down to lead them. Inyx and Ducasien find a word in need of a lead as they fight of Claybore's gray-clad men. Lan and Kiska follow the Cenotaph Road to the world where the Pillar of Night resides. There he meets a beautiful mage named Brinke.

While subduing Lan's geas, Lan is able to travel alone to the Pillar of Night. On the way, he meets Terrill, the original mage that tore Claybore limb from limb and scattered his body parts along the Cenotaph Road. For ten thousand years, he has lived in this forest playing with his golems crazy as a loon.

Then Lan finds the Pillar of Night. What is the secret of the tower. Does it house Claybore's soul like Kiska says? Does it entrap the Resident of the Pit? How can he defeat the powerful mage without the help of his friends?

Pillar of Night is the sixth and final book in the Cenotaph Road series. This book picks up where Fire and Fog leaves off. This is a fantasy story about Lan Martak, his companion mountain spider, Krek, and Inyx as they pursue the evil sorcerer Claybore with the intention of preventing Claybore from collecting all of his body parts and reattaching them back to his body, thereby giving him unlimited magical power. Brinke, a beautiful, blonde mage of unusual powers joins Lan in his quest to rid the worlds of Claybore. But Lan does not realize that Claybore has also put a geas upon her also. But to what end?

Review

I hate to see this series ends. I love the Cenotaph Road series. It has always stood out in my memory as a fun, fantasy series to read with unforgettable characters. Sure, some of the action is a little adult-oriented, but that is okay.

Robert E. Vardeman has created a series that I wish would go on and on. But as all good things come to an end, this series must also. Lan and Claybore have their final battle. Who will win?

Well, you are going to have to pick up Pillar of Night and the entire series to find out. I will miss the strong warrior woman Inyx. Would you ever believe that you could ever miss a huge spider that constantly feels sorry for himself? And Lan . . . with all of his powers, he was never too easily corrupted. Him I will miss most of all.

I rated this book an 8 out of 10.